HUERFANO — Huerfano County Commissioner Max Vezzani said Tuesday, “In our world it’s a huge slide”referring to a July 4th landslide that closed a portion of CR 580 that cuts through private land. Vezzani said the slide was an eighth to a quarter mile wide and reaches depths between 25 and 30 feet. No one was injured when the large landslide occurred, but the ranch manager of the Joe Luter property had to cut a trail on the private land to allow a few vehicles full of holiday campers to get down from above the slide area. Vezzani said the board of commissioners were meeting with a US Forest Service representative Tuesday during their weekly session and will be talking about options concerning getting the road reopened. He said the commissioners are working under the impression the configuration of the county road will have to be changed. He said when surveying the scene, without a reconfiguration of the road, the county would have to end up in the tunnel building business. The road is located on the west side of the valley Vezzani said, and the affected area slid down nearly to the river, closing the road. The commissioners have a meeting set with the property owner, Luter, later this month. County Road 580, is located above Gardner and Huerfano County Commission Chairman
Ray Garcia said the slide began in small stages earlier in the week before the rain soaked ground slipped down onto the county road, located a few miles down from the Lilly Lake parking area. On July 4, the Huerfano County Sheriff’s Office was notified at about 10:30 am that a number of holiday campers had been stranded above the slide area. Deputy Corey Daniels checked into the report and found no one had been injured and there were no elderly or youngsters at risk. The sheriff’s office, Upper Huerfano Fire Protection District volunteers, and the Huerfano County Office of Emergency Management continued to monitor radio communications concerning the incident throughout the day on July 4th. County road 580 remains closed until further notice.
